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A few years ago, while on a long car journey, my wife and I listened to a whole load of true crime podcasts. I know these are very popular, not least because I have watched every series of Only Murders in the Building, but they are not normally my thing.

Nonetheless on this occasion we did about six and one of them told of a small group of people who set up to live a simple life on the Galapagos island of Floreana in the 1930s. It seems that the island was not big enough for all of them though and their relationships soon became pretty fractious. This went on until some of them suddenly went missing or died in odd circumstances. There are two conflicting accounts of what went down but to this day no one really knows the truth. 

I went back today to see if I could refind the podcast in question but it seems there about twenty that deal with same case. There was a Netflix documentary on it in 2013 as well. This, it turns out is a much discussed story.

With so much apparent interest in this little mystery I guess it is no surprise that someone has made it into a movie. The thing you might not have expected is that it would be Ron Howard though. Howard’s filmography is varied but he is known for making dramas with wide appeal that are largely suitable for a family audience. Admittedly this reputation partly still comes from the wholesome character he played in Happy Days back in the 70s but it’s not entirely inaccurate as a judgment of his style. I certainly don’t recall many of his films having bodies slowly decomposing on the beach or vengeful and violent murders.

The other thing you might not have predicted is that this movie, with its celebrated director and a cast that includes Ana de Armas, Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney and Vanessa Kirby, would just quietly turn up on Amazon Prime for direct streaming. If I’d known that Amazon had picked it up for International distribution in Cannes last year then I would have seen this coming as Amazon are only now starting to put their films in theatres, but it has a pedigree that would suggest a wider release. 

It’s actually quite an odd movie, which might be why you won’t see it in a cinema.  It is by turns muted and melodramatic but there a lot of effectively building tension and you will certainly be intrigued as to where it is going. All of the performances are strong, even though they don’t always feel like they belong in the same film, and a few of the set pieces are gripping. There is nightmarish childbirth scene that is absolutely horrifying for fear of how it might end and after this and last year’s Immaculate Sydney Sweeney must now be the champion at doing these on screen. It’s a niche area but she’s apparently cornered it. She has redefined the idea of screaming while in labour.

It is actually Sweeney that holds this film together. She has a reputation for just being a sex symbol but if you look at her acting career rather than her jeans commercials and her appearance on Saturday Night Live, few of these actually hang on her looks. She is a good actor and to stand out in this cast is impressive. It is de Armas that is required to play it sexy here and she goes big. Her villainy is almost cartoonish in places but you definitely want to see her get some kind of comeuppance. 

The tone is often off then and the supposition around what really happened not very sophisticated (it doesn’t follow either of the recorded reports, choosing instead to put forward its own theory) but Eden is still compelling. If I’m honest it probably belongs on streaming as it feels like the kind of salacious adventure you’d access on one or your devices while breaking to discuss it with friends. In fact Podcast may well have been the best medium all along but it just about works in this format too.